Libertarian views of income inequality and wealth: SMU’s Michael Cox speaks on the Glenn Beck show

W. Michael Cox, director of Southern Methodist University’s Center for Global Markets and Freedom, on last night’s Glenn Beck Program said “most success and failure comes from your choices” and not because of actions by the wealthy.

Yaron Brook, executive director of the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights, and George Selgin, professor of economics at the University of Georgia, also were on Southlake-based Beck’s show, which focused on the libertarian perspective of income inequality and wealth.

“The truth is: If you look at almost all successful people in this country, from the time they were young they played with the right kids, studied in school, make good grades, get a job, get a lot of education, be productive at work everyday, save their money, start a business, hire people, invest – they made good choices,” Cox, a former chief economist of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said on the show. “If you don’t [do those things], I would hope you are not able to be as successful as the people that do.”

Conservative Beck, a polarizing media personality, questioned the potential long-term dangers of income inequality. Brook, Cox and Selgin all said capitalism is the world’s only economic system that’s prevented the wealthiest and most powerful people from having total, uncurbed control.

See more of what Cox and the others had to say on the show in a Blaze TV.com video.

Cox has done extensive research on U.S. living standards. His book, Myths of Rich and Poor: Why We’re Better Off Than We Think, co-written with SMU writer-in-residence Richard Alm, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

Top Picks

Comments

To post a comment, log into your chosen social network and then add your comment below. Your comments are subject to our Terms of Service and the privacy policy and terms of service of your social network. If you do not want to comment with a social network, please consider writing a letter to the editor.

ArchivesAbout this blog

About This Blog

Daily breaking news alerts from the Business staff of The Dallas Morning News.